Past's Present to You
by Old Fiat
Summary: Alternate Title: Catching Up. What happens when the Hyotei boys find out what their coach USED to be like?
1. The Party Life

Catching Up 

Or

Past Present to You 

Old Fiat

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**Chapter One**

It all started back in those crazy '80s. He was such a young boy (not really, he was twenty-two) and didn't know what he wanted to be. He was irresponsible and a wild little so-and-so. One day he ran into a friend and got some photos done. What could go wrong? He was a rich youngster and nothing bad could happen!

Now it's twenty-one years later and Taro Sakaki KNOWS who/what he is/wants to be and he knows how he wants his students to treat him. That's why he had to give up his old party life and wild youth days to be respectable. He also had to give up the late nights spent clubbing and 'dancing' (or other ways –wink wink--). He also used to wear the craziest of crazy clothes!

He now has a nice house; he doesn't go clubbing; he doesn't go around partying with his friends, kissing random rich people (of… em, either sex) and never sleeping. In fact he goes to bed at 11:30 pm and wakes up at 6:15 am. And he has ONE WIFE and a son. He also wears nice Savile Row suits.

So who would have thought his students would find out about his party past? Especially since most of the time he was too drunk to remember it.

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It all started one drizzly afternoon at practice. It was too wet to actually DO anything so Sakaki was drilling his regulars on doubles formations, even the non-doubles-playing regulars.

He stood in front of the big chalkboard and sighed.

"As you can see—"

"This is INCREDIBLY boring!" yawned Gakuto. "I play doubles and this is boring me!"

Oshitari sighed in an obnoxiously, flamboyant fashion. "Me too. This sucks."

Sakaki scowled. "Well what do you brats want to do?"

Atobe's eyes shot to a large, navy blue book sitting on Sakaki's desk. He had never seen it opened before, though he had seen it there before. The clear library cover intrigued him. He raised a perfect hand.

"Can we look at that book?" he asked and pointed to the navy-blue book on Sakaki's desk.

He glanced at it. "What the Hell. Gather around brats and we'll look at my scrapbook."

They gathered around him as ordered and looked over his shoulders to see the first creamy page.

The words **_Taro's Photographs of an Incredible Five Years! 1982-1987_** were written in pointy cursive.

They all looked at him.

"That exclamation point is really gay," stated Hiyoshi, talking a burden off everyone's shoulders.

Sakaki bristled. "It IS NOT. I never acted gay." _Not that I remember…_ he thought guiltily.

He flipped over the page to reveal a photo of four men. One had red-brown hair that was slicked all funny so he had this big thing protruding out the front. His skin was tan and he had a large nose. He wore a neon-yellow shirt tucked into high jeans, a shiny black belt and a jean jacket. He had a large, white smile.

Another was short young man with puffy-curly black hair. His skin was pale and smooth, he had a crooked smile plastered on his face and on his ears were two little silver hoops with little red beads on them, his white T-shirt was tucked into tight, navy blue trousers with a sailor pant style fly. His arms and torso were covered with a black leather jacket, the kind with fringe.

The third had gingery hair that was frizzy on top, but cut short on the sides. His pale skin was covered with large groups of freckles. He wasn't just smiling he was laughing his head off. His faded jeans were tucked into cowboy boots and his button-up shirt was tucked into the jeans. He was wearing a scarf with red and black stripes.

The final man had curly blonde hair. It was very fantabulous, puffy and hair-sprayed. His neon pink half-trench coat was belted with a thick black belt. He was wearing cropped jeans. His smile was large and white. All four of the men were at a big party you could tell from the club lighting and people walking behind them.

All four of the men were doing the can-can. A row of espadrilles—briefly interrupted by a pair of cowboy boots—ran in an almost even row. Underneath them was written in the same pointy cursive; _From left to right: Gui(seppe), Roxby (Roxburgh), Christy (Christopher) and me (Taro)_. Then beneath that were three separate sentences in different handwritings.

**_HAPPY 1982!!!!_**

**Happy New Year!**

_Say hello to a BRAND NEW YEAR!!! HELLO 1982!!!_

The team looked at Sakaki with disgusted expressions.

"You're that one in the gay pink trench, aren't you?" said Atobe.

Sakaki blushed. "Can we NOT look at this?"

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**Hello all! This is my NEW FANFIC!!! Whoop!**

**Review please! If I get less than 5 I won't update.**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	2. Wham!

Past's Present to You 

Old Fiat

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Chapter Two 

Atobe stood there with his mouth open.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked. "Is Sakaki-sensei SERIOUSLY blushing?"

Oshitari hit him on the arm.

"Ow!" he turned towards the tensai and rubbed the sore spot. "What was that for?"

"You aren't dreaming," said Oshitari with a shrug. "Otherwise you wouldn't feel that." He pushed up his glasses with his middle finger (on purpose, no doubt).

Sakaki shook his head, trying to rid himself of his out-of-character moment.

"Let's stop looking at this," he said, reaching for the book but Shishido stopped him.

"No way," he said simply. A large grin formed on his face. "We're looking at EVERY PAGE."

So they all turned back to the large scrapbook.

The next three pages held news articles, HUMILIATING photos and a couple of comments made by old friends or something. Those pages passed with laughter and embarrassment. Finally, they reached a VERY SPECIAL picture.

At first they were just going to turn over the page, but something caught their eyes.

It was a photo of two men. Both were average in height, weight and pretty much average in most ways. One had a larger nose, short (but PUFFY) dark brown hair. His eyes were round and his clean white t-shirt (that was cut low enough so he could see he had a small amount of chest hair) was tucked into tight jeans, which were, in turn, tucked into socks. And the socks were covered by… Dun dun dun DUN—espadrilles!! He also wore a zip-up, brown leather jacket and a little gold hoop on his ear.

The other had bleached hair that was puffy, arranged in that 'thing-sticking-out-the-front' way and was so clearly originally dark. His nose was normal-ish sized and he also had a little gold hoop on his ear. His white t-shirt (again, cut low enough so you could see the small amount of chest hair) was tucked into cropped jeans. He also wore a leather jacket, but it was black and snapped. His feet were covered with ESPADRILLES!! YAY!

"Oh my God," said Atobe. "Those men each have _ONE_ earring."

Oshitari (daringly) slapped him. "Way to miss the point!"

The photo was signed:

_To Taro, from George and Andrew_ (1)_. Wham!_(2)_ Wishes you the best of New Years._

Chotaro gasped. "You have a photo signed by 'Wham!'? That is so cool!!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Chotaro…" muttered Shishido. "Don't…"

"Why?" questioned Chotaro. "I like 'Wham!'."

"Wham! are really gay…" he whispered. Unfortunately, because he leaned REALLY close to Chotaro, everyone thought he was perving-out.

"Wham! weren't gay," said Sakaki, his magic ears catching all sound. He sounded aggravated. "Andrew Ridgeley (1) is straight and George Michael didn't figure it out until later. (3)"

"Wait," said Hiyoshi, looking kind of confused. "That other guy in Wham! had a name?"

"No duh," said Sakaki, looking very annoyed.

"You're gay," said Oshitari. "Aren't you?"

"NO!" he half-screamed. "God! Look, I'll show you!"

They turned over the page to reveal a photo of Sakaki and the man earlier identified as Giuseppe kissing—not a friendly kiss either. They were half making-out. Christy (who is bizarrely a man) was clapping and some of their other friends were cheering as well.

"Ha," was all Oshitari said as the rest (including Sakaki, though he was half covering his face with a hand) continued to stare at the photo in disgust.

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I reached the 5 reviews mark! I need it to reach that again for the next chapter though! Here's a brief explanation of some stuff in this chapter:

(1) If you know who Wham! are, you'll remember there was another guy in the band, however unlike George Michael, he didn't go on to have a famous career. His name is Andrew Ridgeley.

(2) Wham! were a band in the 1980s. The way they're described in this chapter is the way they looked at the early stages of the band. Here is their wikipedia entry: http:// en. wikipedia. org /wiki/ Wham21 (remove the spaces and add a percent sign after the 21.)

(3) George Michael (who went on to have a famous single career) came out… at some point about being gay.

Please review! 

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	3. Bi

Past's Present to You 

Old Fiat

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Chapter Three 

Sakaki scowled. "I wasn't gay," he growled. "I was just kind of… frivolous."

"That we can see," Atobe said, turning several pages showing Sakaki and his friends escorting different (female) models and actresses to different social events. "Were you bi?"

"No," he said, calmly. As usual, once they turned the page he was proved wrong.

Above it said in that blasted cursive; _My turning point_. No exclamation points; no hearts; no stars; nothing surrounded it—obviously this was not a happy turning point.

'It' was a newspaper article showing photos of Sakaki standing nervously at a podium, there were many members of the press in the crowd and some signs be held up in a bizarre language that turned out to be Flemish (Vlaams). The headline said 'Lord Taro Sakaki-De Wilde Makes a Confession'. In details it stated that on March 2nd, 1982, he had announced that he was bisexual. It also showed several photos of Sakaki (and friends) with their various escorts of either sex. It said several people thought he was bringing shame to the name De Wilde. His friends, on the other hand, thought it was good he had told the world and got that weight off his chest.

The team looked at him.

"Ha!" they all said, except Kabaji—actually for the purposes of this fic, Kabaji is sick at home or something.

"Damn Giuseppe," the blonde coach muttered. "I bet he made me stick that in there."

Chotaro, however, patted him on the back.

"I think it was good of you to come out, coach," he said, looking at him sweetly. "My cousin told our family he was gay last year and he said even though it was hell to tell everyone, he felt much better."

Sakaki looked at him. Everyone thought he would have a softy moment and say 'Thank you, Ootori-kun.' Actually he pushed Chotaro's hand off and slouched against the wall.

"Bugger off."

They left their coach to his moping and continued to look at the pretty scrapbook.

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Now, for this to work we're going to have to have a serious moment and a soppy-ish flashback. This flashback takes place on February 28th, 1982.

Sakaki (only 19) was a wild-child as we know, and he was bi. But why did he come out?

_Flashback_—Feb.-28-1982 

Taro lay on the couch. His cropped jeans were pulled up INSANELY high and his short-sleeved, button-up shirt was ((gasp)) not tucked into them. In fact, it wasn't even buttoned. It was dark in the flat; the only light was coming from the television. There was a fine layer of stubble on his cheeks, his eyes had dark circles around them and they weren't closed. The image of the weatherman was reflected in his eyes.

The white walls had signs of a party. Stains, indentations, and hand marks were spread along the paint. The floor had bits of food, drink, shards of glass and a few articles of clothing on it. All the speakers, tapes and records were still out. Several records had been smashed and some tapes had been stepped on.

All in all, the flat was a mess.

There was a knock on the door and it opened. Giuseppe walked over to the covered window.

Bright light filled the room as he pulled back the curtains. "Taro, what have you done to your flat?" his voice was steady, but it was deeper and a bit more choked than usual.

"Held a party," replied Taro. His voice, too, sounded strange. There was a huskiness about it that didn't belong. As light traveled to every corner, the cigarette smoke that still floated in the room became partially visible. He reached out, grabbed the remote and switched off the television.

Giuseppe turned on him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," but he didn't bother to turn his face as his friend walked over. The bruise still was plain and dark on his cheek. It was a large purple blotch on the pale, smooth face.

"Who hit you?"

"Elizabeth."

"What happened?"

"She saw me kissing Christy."

"She thought you were gay?"

"Yes."

"Even though you two have been going out for three months?"

"Yes."

Giuseppe sighed and took a look at his friend. "It's time to fess up."

Taro blinked and turned his head to meet Giuseppe's eyes. "Fess up?"

"Taro," Italian-English subject looked stern. "Which are you attracted to? Girls or Guys?"

"What?"

"Tell me!"

"Uh—I dunno," he half-hearted glared at Giuseppe. "I like girls but… I kind of like—both."

"Then tell them so. You won't feel better until you do," his dark hair shone in the light and the sharp contrast between the white light and the dark room cast black shadows across his face. "It's time to fess up and tell them all who you are."

End Flashback 

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Taro brought himself out of his reverie with a small shake of his head. He looked over his students' shoulders to discover they had already reached March 27th, 1983.

"Is that your wife?" asked Hiyoshi, pointing to a young woman with puffy blonde hair. She was kissing him on the cheek and her striped shirt was TUCKED into tight blue jeans that were then rolled up.

"Yeah, that's Elizabeth," he said calmly.

Oshitari turned to him. "So you're finished with your mutterings about Giuseppe already?"

Sakaki's left eye twitched.

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I know I didn't reach the 5 review mark, but OfnFR really wanted me to post this so… On this chapter I'll need 4 reviews. Thank you!

**-OFsI**


	4. Christmas, More Wham!, and Elizabeth

Past's Present to You 

Old Fiat

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Chapter 4 

They reached up to December 15, 1983, before Sakaki looked up from his watch.

"Time for you all to go home," he stated. His voice was hard and cold. Every syllable dripped with spite.

"Awww…" they all collectively sighed and set the album on the table.

Sakaki leaned against the desk and flipped absentmindedly through the creamy pages. On the back on the last page it said in round handwriting an address, phone number and the message: **_(Me mum and dad's house, sorry) CALL ME!! _**

He ran his finger over the numbers, picked up his phone and began hitting buttons.

He held it to his ear.

"_Hello?_"

"Hey, is this Mrs. Esposito?"

"_Yes, who is this?_"

"It's Taro Sakaki, can I speak to Giuseppe?"

"_I can give you his number._"

"Thank you."

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When they set down the album, they set it down for quite some time. All the days after that were sunny but cool, perfect tennis weather. In fact, it was three whole weeks before the rain returned and they all ducked into Sakaki's office for a "team meeting".

He tried, he really did. He tried to make them pay attention to boring doubles formations, and types of shots, but it was a hopeless cause. Finally, Hiyoshi raised his hand.

"Can you just take out the stupid scrapbook?" he asked. He had put curlers in his flat hair the night before so his hair was all puffy and curly. He looked totally '80s, because his shirt was also tucked into his pants that were pulled up high and cuffed. Hiyoshi was so vintage!!

Sakaki sighed in a defeated way. He was too tired to argue. "Fine." He pulled the navy blue book out of a drawer.

They crowed around the gaze over his shoulders (except Gakuto, who had to look from under his armpits). The first photo they came across was Taro, Giuseppe, Roxby, Christy and another guy (it said below his name was **_Donni_**) decorating a Christmas tree. Taro and Giuseppe were both wearing large patterned sweaters in bright shade of red and green, with touches of white, yellow and silver. Notice I say 'silver', not 'gray'. This is because the yarn used to add the stars was sparkly-metallic.

They all had a good chuckle about how gay they looked. Especially our new cast member, Donni. Donni had bleached blonde hair (originally dark brown), tan skin and a ski-slope nose. He was about an inch shorter than Sakaki and had slightly large feet. He had a crooked smile and was wearing a Santa hat, chunky white sweater and bright green trousers. He also had his nails painted red.

"I didn't think painted nails were very popular on men at that time," said Atobe, blowing sissily on his French manicured nails.

"They weren't," grumbled Sakaki. "Donni thought it was cool."

"Oh," they continued flipping though pages. There were many pictures not worth mentioning, except one of Giuseppe wearing a Santa type coat and squeezing Taro in a tight embrace. Taro was wearing a different bright, chunky, over-sized sweater.

The hilarity really began again in a photo taken at a New Years party. The people in it included (in no peculiar order): George Michael, Andrew Ridgely, Taro Sakaki, Giuseppe Esposito, Shirlie Holliman (1), and Elizabeth O'Keefe (who later became Sakaki's wife).

In the photo they had T. Sakaki and G. Michael standing back-to-back, A. Ridgely and G. Esposito back-to-back, and S. Holliman and E. O'Keefe in the same position.

"It's like seeing TWO Wham!s!" shrieked Chotaro. Shishido put his head in his hands as Chotaro fan-guyed(?). It was another badge of shame (not really) for the Silver Pair.

Sakaki **_GIGGLED_**. Yes, he giggled—you heard me right. He giggled, not like a schoolgirl, but STILL.

Atobe half-fainted. Sakaki raised an eyebrow and left him to Oshitari. Yuushi quickly woke him with a (bitch)slap.

So they plowed onwards!

They reached the 1984 New Years pictures with laughter and annoyance. Suddenly, there was a knock on the office door.

They all stopped laughing and turned towards the door.

"Come in," said Sakaki, commandingly.

A woman entered the office. She was a little younger than Taro, but only by a year or so. Her short blonde hair skimmed her cheekbones. She was wearing a thick black wool coat, and looked rather wet. Her white tennis shoes and her white nurses' uniform were sopping.

Elizabeth O'Keefe-Sakaki smiled. "Hey Taro."

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**Hey everyone! Here is a footnote on Shirlie:**

1 Shirlie Holliman was the blonde back-up singer in Wham!. She and Pepsi (who replaced D.C. Lee after the first album, _Fantastic_) were the head female back-ups. Pepsi was the one with the dark skin.

**I actually ordered the _Fantastic_ album from Amazon. It arrived on Monday!! I love it! Please review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	5. An Aside, Giuseppe

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

Argh! I'm sorry I haven't written in this in ages! My computer deleted the old document and now I have to start over! Sorry if this isn't funny. I just felt like an aside.

Thank you for your patience!

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**Chapter 5**

_**A Brief Aside from the Pont of View of Giuseppe**_

It was quite a shock to pick up the phone and not hear the theater manager calling again. But it was nearly deadly to pick it up and speak to someone you hadn't spoken to for nearly two decades. Even though Taro and I had swapped addresses when he moved to Japan again, we hadn't kept in touch, mainly because I was consistently moving about Ireland trying to find a place to stay.

But it was warming to speak to Taro again. He was probably my first _real_ friend who was a guy.

It was weird. I grew up in a farming town. My parents (two Italian immigrants) raised cattle and ran a restaurant. So I was surrounded by farmers, ALL THE TIME. In school I was in the fashion club with about four girls, who were some of my first friends. Unfortunately, because I was so odd, the school psychiatrist thought I was gay. So then she told my parents her suspicions.

Actually my first crush was a man—my math teacher. He was about twenty-something and was an ex-model. When I told him though, I was informed he was married.

Eventually after being the odd-one-out in my hometown, I got to Dublin. It was a relief after being in a closed off village. The city was impersonal, you didn't know everyone and that was a lot easier.

Then I met Taro in university and I ended up knowing EVERYONE in the city. He helped me meet my (now) wife, June.

But of course she first saw me acting like a fool. Taro introduced me to her right after I had fallen in a fountain (half drunk) and swore up a blue streak at the top of my lungs—in about three languages. Somehow Taro managed to redeem me to her.

Actually, most of my time with Taro is a blur. I think we were drunk, giddy, or asleep a lot of the time we knew each other. But I don't think I could spend that much time with Taro again. Most things look either much better or far worse as you look at them.

Though I would love to relive some experiences. Like the first time Taro tried to ask out Elizabeth by cornering her against a wall. She then bashed him about the head with her purse screaming "PERVERT!!" Or maybe all those Christmases spent in the flat wearing giant sweaters made by my mum.

But I know those times are all better as I look at them now.

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**I'm sorry for the random, not funny aside. I'll put up a REAL chapter next time.**

**Now, I thought you'd all like to see some pictures of young Taro, Giuseppe, Roxby, Donni and Christy. Just remove the spaces:**

**Young Taro, drawn by OFnFR:** http:// i79. photobucket. com/albums/ j149/ lemonadesprings24/ youngtarobull. jpg (put underscores in between young taro bull)

**Young Giuseppe, drawn by OFsI:** http:// i79. photobucket. com/albums/ j149/ lemonadesprings24/ Giuseppe. jpg

**Young Roxby, drawn by OFsI:** http:// i79. photobucket. com/albums/ j149/ lemonadesprings24 /Roxysr. jpg

**Young Donni, drawn by OFsI:** http:// i79. photobucket. com/albums/ j149/ lemonadesprings24 /donni. jpg

**Young Christy, drawn by OFsI:** http:// i79. photobucket. com/albums/ j149/ lemonadesprings24/ christy. jpg

**Hope you like them! Please review!**

**-OFsI**


	6. Beech Pix

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

I NEED YOUR HELP! I have no clue where this story is going or what to do with it. If you have any ideas for endings or ways to stop it being so repetitive, tell me in your review or message me. Thank you!

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**Chapter 6**

Elizabeth ran her fingers over the cream colored pages covered in photos; her elegant hands pausing near her favorite ones. Atobe looked at her worriedly.

"Mrs. Sakaki?"

"Yes?"

"You _do_ know your husband used to be bi, right?"

_Used to?_ She thought, but said aloud "Yes. Why?"

Atobe puffed up his chest. "I just didn't want you to be hurt by our unscrupulous coach."

Sakaki walked in. He was holding an old (but clean) Hyotei tennis uniform.

"Change into this darling," he handed her the clothes and kissed her on the cheek. Then he turned to Atobe. "Who's unscrupulous?"

"No one," Atobe said quickly.

"Good."

Elizabeth left to change and they once more gathered around the amazing scrapbook of yore.

They went through many pictures of hilarity, but not enough to really cause someone to fall off a chair from laughing.

Finally, a photo from May 22nd, 1984 was the answer to hilarity's prayers.

There stood Taro-- his hair sprayed to within an inch of its life and puffed up about two inches from his head-- wearing a bright blue shirt tucked into bright yellow hot pants. He was smiling a bright white, tooth filled smile. His skin was actually pretty white—not like, super pasty, but not very tan.

"Why does your crotch look all funny?" asked Gakuto, cocking his head to the side.

"First, why are you looking?" replied Sakaki. "Second, I had a shuttlecock, or birdie, jammed down my shorts."

"Why?" questioned Atobe.

"Request from Andrew."

"Didn't that hurt?" asked Shishido.

"It doesn't if you know how to do it right."

Before they could ask for the amazing secret of how to shove a shuttlecock in your pants without injury, Elizabeth returned. She managed to make the baggy, worn-out tennis uniform look like something out of the best designer ready-to wear store in Paris.

"Thank you Taro," she smiled, her white teeth glinting.

"No prob," he responded. He kissed her on the cheek and gestured for her to join them.

They went through more photos one involving a drunk Christy hitting on a sober Donni, who held his camera in front of his chest like it would protect him. But finally they reached the crowning glory of embarrassing, hysterical photographs:

**_Beech Pix_**

All his students gave him a disgusted look.

"That's B-E-A-C-H, beach," said Yuushi, glaring through his round glasses.

"English wasn't Taro's first language," explained Elizabeth.

"What was?" sneered Atobe.

"Vlaams (Flemish) and then Japanese," he responded, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

The photos showed Giuseppe, Christy, Donni, Taro, Roxby and Elizabeth all at a nicely decorated pool. Taro wore a black Speedo. Donni wore a pair of purple vintage style trunks. Christy wore a pair of _very_ bizarre, flower patterned jams. Roxby wore vintage trunks as well, but his were white. Giuseppe sported a very pale pink Speedo. Elizabeth wore a black one-piece, with high cut sides.

"You were _so gay_," said Hiyoshi. "_Please _stop denying it!"

"I **WASN'T GAY**!!" Sakaki almost shouted.

Hiyoshi turned the page, expecting to be proven right.

There was a picture of Taro and Elizabeth.

Kissing.

_Passionately_.

"EWWW!!!" shrieked Jiro. "KISSING!!!"

They all gave him a weird look. Elizabeth giggled and squeezed Taro's arm. "I remember that kiss!" she gushed.

"EEEEEWWWW!!!" screamed the obviously-asexual-or-something Jiro and ran out of the room. "I'm going home!"

They all silently decided Jiro just obviously couldn't handle his hormones and that they should just continue looking at the album.

Then the next picture was of Taro and Elizabeth… getting a bit "naughty" and they decided they couldn't handle their hormones either.

T'was time to head home.

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**Lol. The little baby Jiro cannot handle hormones. XD**

**Anyway, need at least 3 reviews on this chapter!!**

**-Old Fiat**


	7. Life is so Confuzzling

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

What is going on people!? Am I writing this for myself?

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**Chapter 7**

Elizabeth was worried.

Taro, even though he was bi, had shown total faith in her for almost twenty years. His interest in other women/men was (almost) completely gone. She wasn't worried about a thing. But looking at that scrapbook again seemed to cause a change.

It was rather sudden. Before if he thought someone else was attractive, he did his best to not stare, not make eyes at them and not examine their buttocks. He always told her if he felt attracted to someone. It also was almost _never_ men.

But after the second time of looking at the scrapbook his personality began to shift. It was like he remembered the freedom he used to have. At a party a few days after (looking at the scrapbook) he had stared at Mr. Atobe senior's arse the whole time and made a "naughty" comment which Mr. Atobe didn't seem to find amusing.

Then the women's club came to her house a few days afterward. One of the women (we'll call her Samantha) had to bring her sick adopted son, Edward, who was about twenty-four. Taro hung around with him the whole time, but Elizabeth saw Edward blatantly flirt with Taro. He didn't stop him either.

It was all rather worrying. Also it was spring vacation and so he got to do it more often.

Very worrying.

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Atobe also had problems.

The day after they stopped looking at the photos he woke up with sun in his eyes. This wasn't too much of a problem. It just meant one of the maids had been in there and had opened the curtains. He sat up, scratched his head, blinked and squinted a bit and then got up to wash his face.

He turned on the taps and began to splash his face with water.

But his hands felt something odd—a weird prickly feeling on his chin. He looked up at the mirror. It took a couple seconds for his tired eyes to focus but finally he saw himself and was amazed.

Actually, "amazed" is an understatement.

He was gob-smacked.

On his chin and jaw there was a thin layer of short prickly hairs. They didn't exactly completely cover his chin but he was gob-smacked all the same.

_STUBBLE!_

He ran to speak to his father or his mother, but remembered they left last night. He ran to speak to the butler, Sennelier, but remembered he had gone to visit his relatives in France. He ran to speak to Sennelier's brother, the cook, but remembered he had gone with him. He ran to speak to one of the maids, but was too embarrassed.

There was no one left to talk to.

He ran back to his room, his footsteps padded by his soft, fuzzy bunny-rabbit slippers. He grabbed his cell-phone and quickly punched in the only telephone number he could think of.

It rang three times. Finally, there was a soft click and the sound of heavy breathing. "Who is this?" asked the sleepy tensai, Yuushi Oshitari.

"Tari-kun!!! Something terrible but awesome has happened!!"

"Who is this?"

"Atobe."

"Don't call me 'Tari-kun'. Why are you calling so—oh… it's not that early…"

"I have **_stubble_**," Atobe shivered just uttering the word. Unfortunately there was no other way to say it, unless you wanted to say 'chin hair' or 'body hair located upon one's jaw and upper lip' and those both sounded gross in different ways.

"No way!" Atobe could hear Oshitari put on his glasses. "You're only 15!"

"Totally! I don't get it!" he was worried now. Just how unusual was it to get stubble at 15?

"Maybe it was the scrapbook."

"What do you mean?" Atobe's voice quivered.

"You know all the pictures of George Michael in there?"

"So?"

"Well, he's Greek, you know, and kind of very hairy. Maybe some of it like, rubbed off on you or something."

"I can have a whole female fan base!!" Then he remembered reading an old article on the internet.

Atobe shrieked.

"I don't want to be GAY! I want to bask in the glory of my female fan base! I want to appreciate every moment spent with them. Also, I don't like hot pants!..."

Yuushi smiled as one of the most powerful junior high tennis players in Japan spouted utter nonsense about consequences of turning into George Michael.

_Shows him for waking me up at noon,_ he thought as he shut the cell-phone.

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At that very moment, Chotaro was half-dancing in the shower. Shower half-dancing is not like _real_ half-dancing. All you really do is shake your hips smoothly as the water runs over you and pretend you're a model from the "Freedom '90" video(1). He rubbed the strawberry-scented shampoo into his scalp and smoothly moved his hips in time to the beat in his head.

"_Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…_" he sang, LAMELY.

While in reality he looked like a fool child, in his mind he was Linda Evangelista.

That made it lamer.

SUPER LAME!

Then the house phone rang.

He continued to bathe and sing in all his lame glory until the butler came in with one of his hands over his eyes.

"Master Chotaro."

Chotaro stopped and popped his head out of the shower.

"What is it?"

"Telephone for you Master, it is from Master Yuushi Oshitari."

"Be right out! Ask him to stay on," Chotaro got the rest of the shampoo out of his hair, got out of the shower, dried himself off and put on a bathrobe.

"Hey Oshitari-sempai," he said in his sugar-sweet manner.

"Chotaro, I'm trying to get this around to the whole team. You will not _believe_ what Atobe will fall for!"

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**Lol. Silly Atobe… Anyway.**

(1)The video for _Freedom '90_ (by George Michael… yes, I know I'm obsessed) features models like Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Cambell dancing and lip-synching to the song. Here is a link to it on youtube: http:// www. youtube. com / watch?vCqRAwzcQrpE (there should be a equals sign in between 'v' and CqRAwzc, etc. FFN might remove it though.) Just remove the spaces.

**Thanks for reading! You'd better review or this will NEVER be updated! Seriously!**

**-Old Fiat**


	8. Freeek y Weddings

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

The threat is still going, by-the-way. I want EVERYONE who reads this to review! I can't be on that many alerts lists, have that many hits, and only get ONE review on a chapter!! (This doesn't mean I don't love an Ahotep review, it means I want more.) Though last chapter got 3 reviews, I need more. Pretty please? You don't even have to sign in.

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**Chapter 8** (And this was going to be a one shot…)

Elizabeth gave Taro a sideways glance as she slipped into her crisp, white nurse's uniform. It was the day they both had to return to work. Taro was standing his front of the bathroom mirror in his purple, striped, button-up shirt and boxer shorts. His tie was slung around his neck as he furiously polished his teeth. Elizabeth had her suspicions about Taro but she had an ace up her sleeve.

As he rinsed his brush she came up from behind and wrapped her arms around him.

"Taro…" she whispered seductively. "You haven't been spending much time with me lately." She lightly kissed his ear. She mentally smirked as he smiled a little nervously.

"I've been busy sweetie," he answered, and pulled out a can of hair spray.

She slowly, but smoothly unbuttoned his shirt and rubbed his chest. "We should talk a bit."

He spun around towards her. He was wearing an excited smile.

"Forget talking!" he said and pulled her close into a deep, romantic, making-out session.

Elizabeth led him over towards the bed as they continued to kiss. She mentally gave an evil smile.

She could get whatever she wanted from Taro in the bedroom.

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Atobe pressed his face against the club house window. The rain was falling in hard sheets. The courts were impossible to use in this weather. Sakaki wasn't there so he couldn't lecture them about boring crap. Yuushi had been called to the principal's office for something Gakuto did. Kabaji had… I dunno—pneumonia or something—and couldn't come to school.

And everyone else was just as bored as he was. Actually, they were probably _more_ bored than he was because he had taken the best spot for looking out the window.

Gakuto had perched on Sakaki's desk and was looking at his grades. He glanced up at Atobe and, with his evil, eagle eyes, noticed something.

"So Yuushi wasn't lying!" he said excitedly (though evilly). He jumped off the desk and looked at the captain.

"I bet he was," said Atobe in his usual drawl. "What did he say?"

"He said you have stubble. And you do."

"What?" said Atobe, VERY suspiciously. "What do you mean? No I don't!"

"Look here," said Gakuto, pointed to his jaw. You know, when guys have black stubble, their chins seem to look constantly tinged gray? That's what Gakuto pointed to. "Those are the hairs poking through your skin again."

"What?" Atobe shrieked. "But I shaved just yesterday morning!"

"Well _obviously_ it's growing back," said Gakuto. "Did you think it wouldn't or something?"

"No… but…" Something clicked.

"HEY!" he yelled, pointed a long, perfect finger at Gakuto. "You _made_ me expose my secret in front of the team! Ore-sama shall get you!" They began to chase each other around the room.

Finally there was a crack of lightening and the club house door opened.

Sakaki shook out his black umbrella and hung his coat on the hanger.

"Where the hell is Yuushi?" he asked. And despite how harsh this statement may seem when you read it, there was something present in his tone that showed he was incredibly, fully and utterly blissful.

"He got in trouble for blowing up a cherry bomb under his desk in math," explained Gakuto.

There was another flash of lightening and Yuushi skulked into the room. His hair hung in wavy, wet tendrils. He walked across the room and slumped into his seat. From behind his glasses he glared at Gakuto.

"Shut the damn door," said Sakaki, the blissful tone still in his voice.

Hiyoshi did this, and then he and Gakuto stopped him from writing anything on the blackboard.

"Scrapbook, now please," said Gakuto, fiendishly.

"Fine," said Sakaki. He hadn't even planned on attempting to teach them anything. "Jiro, you may go home early."

"Thank you!" he bowed, grabbed his bright yellow rain gear and skipped out of the room. They could hear him singing outside "_I've been working on the railroad, all the live-long day!..._"

"Anyone else noticed Jiro's mental deterioration?" asked Yuushi, getting up to join them, but still glaring at Gakuto.

"Yes," said EVERYONE.

They all shrugged and resumed their… scrapbook… looking… stuff…

Yes.

You know, they flipped through it and stuff. Before they knew it, the photos were from Christmas, 1986.

"Time sure has flown, hasn't it?" said Yuushi, glancing at his watch. "Want to just finish this now?"

They all agreed, but they knew they would miss looking at it once they were finished. Taro turned the page to a picture of Giuseppe wearing a black tuxedo with a pink rose on the lapel. Standing next to him was a woman with light brown hair and ivory skin. She was wearing a pale pink knee-length dress with a matching pill box hat. A thin white veil hung over her even facial features. In her gloved hands there was a large bouquet of pink, white and red roses, babies' breathe, white lilies and various other beautiful flowers. Beneath the photo it said, **_Congratulations to the bride and groom: Giuseppe Esposito and June Gray-Esposito. December 28th, 1986_**

They were all about to make a comment about how Giuseppe was wearing a PINK flower when they saw the look on Sakaki's face.

He was furious.

"That's when Giuseppe got married," he said. The blissful tone had gone from his voice to be replaced with… jealousy? He seemed to be glaring at the woman in the picture, June. "Lovely day that."

They were all a little scared as they looked through the wedding pictures, but once they were over, Taro relaxed and became (kind of) happy(ish) again.

There were photos of Christy's watch designs. Many of which Taro, Roxby and Donni modeled.

Then they reached the final picture.

Taro, Giuseppe (who had a _very_ short honeymoon because of work), Donni, Christy, and Roxby all stood holding out their champagne glasses towards the camera. Each stood next to their 'partner', who were holding out their champagne glasses.

Their outfits were humorous.

And that was the end.

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**:Wipes eyes: So bittersweet. Poor Taro was his Giu to stay with him! Lol. Anyway. You must review or I won't update. (:**

**-Old fiat s. Italy**


	9. An Aside, Donni

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

Threat still stands. Review or I won't update.

Ha.

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**Chapter 9**

**_A Brief Aside from the Point of View of Donni_**

**Written on March 5th, 1990**

I guess the best way to start is with my family. It's hard to get attention when you're the youngest of seven. That's right, SEVEN. I had SEVEN older brothers. When you have that many brothers the only attention you get is negative. "Why aren't you more like Charles?" was the most common sentence. Charles is my ultra perfect oldest brother. Masculine, strong, handsome, married; everything I and my other siblings were _supposed_ to be. They did a better job than I did. I couldn't help it that I disliked ruggers or football. I couldn't help it that my best friend was a _girl_ named Lucy. I couldn't help it that I didn't like imperfection.

I had obsessive compulsive disorder. It was slight, but there. I disliked dirt smears and sweat, cuts and bruises. I disliked too much muscle and thus avoided most sports. I shaved my head when I was 17 and ripped off as much of my nails as I could because I hated the way they looked. It wasn't perfect. Of course, my psychiatrist (mum and dad sent me when they realized I had OCD) gave me the worst advice: paint my nails so I wouldn't have to see the mistakes. Also he told me to cut my own hair, that way it would look exactly the way I wanted it to.

My mum and dad were bewildered. They thought I wanted to be a girl.

_They thought I wanted to be a girl!_

Despite what I did to try and convince them, they wouldn't believe me. My father was enraged. My mother was terribly angry.

"Why can't you be more like Charles, Donald?"

"Why can't you just be normal?"

"Why can't you live with what you were born with?"

I was furious. That night I ran away. I had graduated from High School by this time and could earn my own living. I wanted to go to college to be a hair dresser, but mainly a photographer. I ran away to Dublin. I spotted a sign advertising for someone to do a Mrs. Sakaki's nails.

When I visited the woman to ask about the job I had to go to a terribly large house just to get to a little flat. Okay, it wasn't little, it HUGE. All the walls were a rich reddish-purple and the floors were covered in plush deep-red carpeting.

It turned out she was the widow of a millionaire named Hiyoshi Sakaki and the mother of Duchess Felicity Sakaki-De Wilde who was married to Duke De Wilde of Belgium.

Amazingly, I got the job after I showed her my nails.

While working there to earn money to go study photography and hair dressing I met Taro. I met him probably in the worst way. I was running from class to go to Mrs. Sakaki's flat and had barely eaten anything. Me and Mrs. Sakaki had kind of become friends by this point and I was terribly ashamed that I was late.

I burst through the door. I was shaking and sweating. I shook out my jacket and hung it on the coat hanger. I did what I could for my hair and clothes.

Then Taro entered.

I was straightening my watch while waiting for the butler to come in and lead me to Mrs. Sakaki. Instead, Taro walked in. His black stove-pipe pants (1) were flawless. I don't remember his shirt. I think it was a white button-up or something like that. His hair was wavy and puffy. The blonde color was natural, unlike my own home bleach job. His pink lips were all pouty, like he was bored.

He looked me over a couple times, licked his lips and walked over, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Butler's day off," he said into my ear. His lips brushed my earring and I could've sworn I felt his tongue touch the lobe ever so lightly.

I gulped. "May I see Mrs. Sakaki?"

"Whaddya want Grandma for?" his hand slid down to the base of my back and moving his torso closer.

"I do her nails…?" I responded nervously.

"Oh yeah?" he said, his tone suggested he couldn't care less what I wanted with his Grandmother. I remembered her describing Taro to me once as a gentlemanly boy.

This was _so_ _not_ gentlemanly.

His hand slid down onto my bum. His other hand rested on the wall, putting me in a kind of cage. I breathed in sharply as he leaned even closer. I could feel his hot breath on my cheek.

"Are you sure you aren't here for a good ti—"

"Taro!"

We both turned. Taro's cheeks went scarlet and he stuttered a little. "H-hello Grandmother! I was just greeting your manicurist."

She sniffed. "So I saw," she said disapprovingly. "Come with me Donald."

When I came there next week Taro turned red. "Sorry…" he muttered and walked quickly into another room.

But we managed to forge an awkward friendship. Taro helped me break out of my OCD. One day I got a brand new flat. I**_ finally_** had enough money to buy my _own_ flat and, of course, it's all off. I completely broke down when I realized the height of the counters was imperfect and Taro came in I was crying in a heap on the floor.

"What's wrong?" he had asked.

"The counters are all wrong," I said standing up and showing him. "Look at this! And the door ways are too tall and—"

Taro cut me off. "What's wrong with this counter? You can cook on it, right?"

I blinked. "Yeah… I guess. But look at the height! It is totally wrong!"

"If you can cook on it, there's nothing wrong," he pointed out. "And the doorways are fine. You never know how tall people can get."

I went silent. The idea that as long as something _worked_, it was fine had never entered my head before. I always thought that things had to be _just right_, absolutely perfect, to function. But Taro's argument—which I honestly don't think he thought out before, I think he just had thought that since birth or something—was so well presented that I believed what he was saying.

He helped me break out of my ultra high standards.

For that Taro, I thank you.

Just _PLEASE _don't pinch my butt anymore. (Just kidding!)

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**Yay Donni! I'm glad he feels better. You know guys, I still need help with an ending. I'm trying to drag this out as long as possible, but… yeah….**

(1) Stove-pipe trousers are skin tight trousers, not leggings but very close-fitting trousers.

**REVIEW!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


	10. Happy Endings? More Warping Than Happy

**Past's Present to You**

Old Fiat

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**Chapter 10**

_Somewhere in the Southern Irish country side:_

Giuseppe had decided a while ago it only took one thing to throw you off your work.

In fact he had decided it when he worked in his parent's restaurant. He would get distracted by one costumer and be unable to pay attention to anything the rest of the day.

A few days ago he had received a call from Taro. Okay, that was fine. But this was _too_ big a coincidence.

He (Giuseppe) had received a job offer. The only "downside" was he had to move to Tokyo. The job was costume design for the New National Theater (1)'s dance department. It was well paying and everything, but seriously!

Now instead of making a decision, he was drawing out want he thought Taro looked like now. Most likely his hair was shorter now (false), and his hairline had probably gone back a bit (false), he wore the same cologne (true)…

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called, continuing to sketch.

June came in. She walked over to his desk and snatched up the paper from under his nose.

"Gi, you are a silly thing," she looked at him and smiled. "Shouldn't you be deciding on where you want to go?"

He looked at her.

"What do you think we should do?"

"The children seem quite enthusiastic with the idea of Japan," she set the paper on the desk, took a pencil and began to add on to his drawing. "You could keep this place as a summer house and work in Japan for the rest of the year. We do have the money for it."

Giuseppe grinned. "Why am I even thinking about it?"

"Start looking into properties in Tokyo. In the nice neighborhoods, mind you."

"Taro owns a place in 'Oakwood'. It's where all the rich people live."

"Look into it," she said, without looking up.

_What would I do without you?_ He wondered as he turned on his (rarely used) computer.

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_A month later: Tokyo, Japan_

Taro drooled just a little on Elizabeth's shoulder. His normally gelled hair was in soft, but tight curls. He snuffled a bit and rubbed his nose on her cotton nightgown. Elizabeth gave him a glare.

"Yuck…" she muttered turning back to the film, _The Bodyguard_. She was just about to hit him in the stomach when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she said politely.

"_Is this the Sakaki house?_" a familiar voice asked. The rounded, up-beat formation of words recalled someone, but she wasn't sure who.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"_It's Gi!_" **Now** she could remember.

"Gi! How are you?" she picked up the remote and paused the film.

"_I'm fine! Is this Lizzie?_"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

"_Is Taro there?_"

She gave a little laugh. "Only his carcass is here. His mind is off somewhere else."

"The Bodyguard_, eh?_"

She was surprised Giuseppe remembered. "Yes."

"_Ah, well. Guess what!_"

"What?"

"_I am moving to Japan!_"

She gave a little shriek. "No way!"

"_Yes way! I've gotten a job offer from the New National Theater. I'm going to Tokyo!_" He really hadn't changed at all. She could picture him jumping up and down on the bed in one of his mum's Christmas sweaters.

"That is so cool!"

"_Isn't it? I've found a house in your neighborhood. It looks so cool there. I can't wait until you meet my daughters. Their names are Jade, Jasmine, and Jennifer. Jennifer is, like, thirteen years old. Do you remember Henry? I think he still keeps in contact with Taro…_"

He babbled on. He updated her on the new stuff in Ireland; How her brother was doing, how Christy, Donni, and Lord Roxby were getting on, what the weather had been like, etc. It was so fun to talk to Giuseppe again, she nearly forgot about Taro drooling on her.

"What sort of clothes do you wear now, Gi?" she asked. The image of him in the sweater was too much.

"_Huh? Oh, I wear pretty much all-black, all the time. Why?_"

"Oh," she gave an uncomfortable little laugh and explained about how she still pictured him.

His loud laugh nearly burst her eardrums.

He stopped and Lizzie could hear him converse briefly with a little girl. "_Oh damn it. I have to run Lizzie. Tell Taro, okay?_"

"Bye Gi!"

She hung up and hit Taro on the head.

"Oww…" he moaned lifting his head to look at her. "Why'd you do that? Is the film over?"

"No. Gi called."

Taro yawned and stretched. "Neat. What'd he say?"

"He's moving to the Funny Farm. (2)"

"That's pretty cool," he licked his lips and looked at her. She knew he wasn't paying attention. "How about we… _celebrate_."

"Oh Taro!"

Oh, he had some photo albums those brats would _never_ see. All tucked up and locked up in his school filing cabinet.

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Atobe bit his tongue to stop himself giving a little cry of pain as the razorblade nicked his skin. A little bead of crimson blossomed from the cut.

"Stupid stubble…" he muttered under his breath. Normally he would have screamed it in a high pitched voice, but he could not wake his parents. He simply _couldn't_. If his mother and father found out he had stubble—ohhh… he wouldn't be able to forget about it.

His cell phone rang from his room. He poked his head out of the bathroom and tiptoed down the hall to answer it.

"Hello?" he whispered.

Oshitari yawned. "_Coach says we won't have practice today._"

"Oh," Atobe felt kind of let down. "Does he have anymore photo albums?"

"_Not that I know of. He can check his office today if you want._"

"Okay. I'll talk to you later 'Tari-kun."

"_Never call me that again._"

Atobe hung up. He placed the phone on his dresser and crept back down the hall. He tried to stay quiet. He had nearly reached the bathroom when his parents' door opened.

"Keigo?" his mother asked. "Why do you have shaving cream on your—Oh! Oh, my baby!"

He had no choice but to make a run for it.

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_A(nother) month later _(Time sure does fly, eh?)_: Tokyo_

Taro kissed Elizabeth as she walked into her doctor's office. She had been feeling sick for several days now.

She spoke to the assistant at the front desk for a few minutes before Gregory, her friend and doctor, came over.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

The check-up passed fairly uneventfully. Gregory could not seem to be able to find out what was wrong. A nurse walking outside saw him lean over and ask her something. She nodded.

A few seconds later he popped out of the room.

He came back in several minutes later. His smile looked a bit nervous.

"It's… positive."

Elizabeth looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm _**pregnant**_?!"

---THE END---

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**Awwww…. It's over. I guess I'm going to miss it. Ah well. To the footnotes:**

(1) This is a real theater in Tokyo. I looked it up.

(2) 'The Funny Farm' (known by most as 'Oakwood Housing Area') is a place me and OFnFR made up. It's where all the crazy-rich people/crazy, rich people live. Actors, models, etc.

**I hope you liked it! Since this is the last chapter, I beg all of you: **_**PLEASE**_** review!**

**-Old Fiat s. Italy**


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